So sad, but an eerie reminder of the death of Hank Gathers more than 20 years ago, also from a heart condition...Are they not given physicals before playing anymore? We had to take physicals when I ran track & played on the tennis team in my high school....This is weird.
Leanna H. Physicals don't check for heart problems other than high blood pressure. The rest of the heart problems are done by the hospital and need to be reported by you or your family.
Jordan de Leon they check your heart beat and im sure his heart had an abnormal heart beat because of how enlarged it was. im sure a physical woulda saved him.
This is very sad, however, for those talking about full pre-season medical check ups... This is a situation in which the medical check-up wouldn't have caught it. He showed no symptoms prior to him collapsing which is why so many athletes die from this type of thing. It's something that usually isn't caught until it's too late.
This is a tragedy!! I never met this kid, but this story struck me hard. I'm a parent of a high school athlete and will be scheduling appt with our dr for testing. Rip wes leonard! I'm sure you will be greatly missed!!
just to clear things up for the ignorant people, Wes Leonard died by giving his all.even though i never knew him,i could tell that he worked hard and made amazing shots.he died a winner that is what he will always be remembered by.
Bo Kimble was a friend of Hank Gathers and he traveled to Holland, Michigan to Fennville, but then Wes Leonard lost their star player 1 day shy of the 21st anniversary of Hank Gathers. Hank Gathers could've had a future in the NBA with the numbers he was putting up.
Very sad. The exhaustion and shock of game winning basket probably made him go in shock... Happened to me before but diff situation. (Thank god im still around)
This is horrible my condolensces go out to his family and friends atleast he died doing what he loved and did it in classy fashion,,,its so sad to see a kid pass before their time.
They lost in regionals by 24 to Schoolcraft who went on to win the state title. Schoolcraft played 7 games in the playoffs to win the title. 6 of the 7 victories were by double digits including both the semi-finals and the finals. And they finished with a perfect 27-0 record. The fennville players have nothing to hang their head about
A similar thing happened in 2005 at an all star game in Duluth Minnesota. The star player for Grand Rapids High school had a heart problem during halftime. He died shortly after. The was a question as why a defibillator was not close on hand(If I remember).
Kids get physicals these days but there is NO WAY it can pick up a bad heart. A physical that invasive would be very expensive and many kids wouldn't be able to afford it (black kids) and not play.
A very indepth physical would pick up an enlarged heart. Most physicals kids get dont go that far. My son at 11 yrs old had a physical for basketball and they did just the basics and NOTHING MORE.
